Why is Body-Worn Camera Important?
March 28, 2025
How does Body-Worn Camera Work?
Body Worn camera is a small camera that usually can be clipped onto a police officer’s uniform. Bodycam is capable of recording video and audio, which is uploaded via a docking station on a local storage device or via a web-based digital media storage platform where it can be encrypted and managed accordingly. The bodycam also provides law enforcement with a mobile surveillance tool to promote police safety and efficiency and deter crime. Modern bodycams are smaller, lighter, and increasingly sophisticated in the type of features they now support including; full HD video quality, micro gimbal stabilization, starlight night vision, AES-256 Encryption, intelligent scene selection, and NFC-enabled ID switchover, integration with wearable equipment and even the ability to stream live footage to command center and other devices.
Why is Body-Worn Camera Important?
Better Transparency
Bodycam brings better transparency and accountability and improves law enforcement legitimacy. When there is a lack of trust and confidence exacerbated by questions encountered during some law enforcement scenarios, such as violent demonstrations, and protest riots, audiovisual footage captured by bodycam provides better documentation to help confirm the nature of events and support accounts articulated by officers and the public.
Quicker Resolution
Bodycam leads to a faster resolution of complaints and lawsuits that allege excessive use of force and other forms of officer misconduct. Investigations of cases that involve inconsistent accounts of the encounter between officers and citizens are often found to be in the dilemma. This maybe decreases the public's trust and confidence in law enforcement and increase perceptions that claims of abuse brought against officers will not be properly addressed. Audiovisual footage captured by body-worn camera may help corroborate the facts of the encounter and result in a quicker resolution.
Corroborating Evidence
The video and audio captured by the bodycam can be used as critical evidence in arrests or prosecutions. Audiovisual footage captured by BWCs will help document the occurrence and nature of various types of crime, reduce the overall amount of time required for officers to complete paperwork for case files to corroborate evidence presented by prosecutors.